Child Soldiers and the Parameters of International Criminal Law

The law on the enlistment, conscription or use of children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities has been addressed in the jurisprudence of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and in the first judgment of the International Criminal Court in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. This article examines the parameters of the international criminal law relating to child soldiers, focusing on the conduct element of the three modes of committing a child-soldier-related offence. Two main issues are addressed: whether Articles 8(2)(b)(xxvi) and 8(2)(e)(vii) of the 1998 Rome Statute describe two or three separate categories of conduct and whether sexual violence may constitute a form of use in hostilities. These issues are discussed within the framework of the prior evolution of the law and the unfolding practice of the International Criminal Court. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]